Overview
The City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism Prepares Students for Media Jobs with Personal Attention
The City University of New York (CUNY) is the nation's largest urban public university, and is made up of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, an honors college, the Graduate Center, a law school, a biomedical school, a school of professional studies, and most importantly, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
CUNY plays a major role in enriching the academic environment of New York, not only through its 23 schools, but through numerous academic enrichment programs offered on CUNY campuses and at high schools around the state.
The Graduate School of Journalism offers its 85 students lots of personal attention, and its NY City News Service syndicates student stories to major media outlets. From the "New York Daily News" and the "Huffington Post," well-known publications began picking up student-written reports from the very first semester. This helps students to quickly accumulate clips to bolster their resume when looking for jobs later on.
Journalism students learn the important basics of journalism, as well as specializing in areas of their choosing. Students have regular contact with working journalists, from the veterans on the faculty to the many major media outlets across the city where they work in professional internships. Students gain hands-on experience and benefit from the expertise of their mentors.
CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism boasts an all-wireless facility, and a fully-equipped broadcast studio. This state-of-the-art media technology allows students to apply their newly-learned skills in a modern environment.
CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism in Times Square is Near Many Major Media Outlets Such as the New York Times
The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is located in midtown Manhattan in the former home of the legendary New York Herald Tribune, at 219 W. 40th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. This location next to Times Square is at the center of the world's media capital, with the New York Times just next door, and a dozen more major media companies just a short walk away. CUNY Students can enjoy all the benefits that New York has to offer, from the numerous cultural opportunities such as theater, museums, and concerts, to enjoyable nightlife at clubs, restaurants, and bars.
The facilities on campus at CUNY are second to none. Classrooms are all wirelessly connected for teleconferencing and live streaming, and students make copious use of the library/research center, as well as the numerous small lounges for relaxing or studying.
An 80-seat wireless newsroom serves as the centerpiece of the school's interactive journalism technologies, and is equipped with a 20-foot multimedia wall. There is also a digital television and radio broadcast center, five editing suites, and a 24-hour cable station in the form of CUNY-TV. Students may borrow professional-grade equipment from the school's broadcast center when doing fieldwork.
CUNY's M.A. in Journalism Offers Instruction from Professional Veteran Journalists and Career Preparation for Students
The Master of Arts degree in Journalism can be completed in three semesters. Students learn basic journalism skills--reporting, writing, editing, ethics, and critical thinking--as well as more media-based skills to allow students to best tell stories using print, broadcast, and interactive formats. Seven courses in these foundational areas make up the core curriculum of the program.
After receiving training in these basics, students choose one of five subject concentrations: arts/culture reporting, business/economics reporting, health/medicine reporting, international reporting, or urban reporting. Specialization allows students to refine their journalistic chops by honing their ability to develop a beat and apply rigorous analysis to create narratives and profiles. In addition to the coursework, students participate in a comprehensive summer internship, and produce a substantial capstone project.
Students receive media instruction from professional writers, broadcasters, multimedia experts, and photographers who work one-on-one with them. These media coaches assist with class assignments, and help students get their work published in media outlets beyond the school. The faculty contains working journalists with many ties to the media community.
The capstone project is a professional-level piece of work that serves as the culmination of a student's work at the graduate school. Students may choose from 9-minute broadcast segments for CUNY-TV, 3,000-word print articles, or interactive multimedia Web site packages.
CUNY Guarantees Journalism Students a Unique Paid Media Internship, and the Option to Enroll for a Fourth Semester
All students in the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism may partake in a paid summer internship between their second and third semesters. This unique opportunity guarantees that students will receive the hands-on experience necessary to perform in future journalism jobs. The School pays a stipend to students in any case where the media employer doesn't, so students are guaranteed not only experience, but financial remuneration as well.
Students have the option to extend their studies to a fourth semester to take additional media courses or electives in journalism, to take related courses at other CUNY colleges, or to take part in an exchange program with a foreign journalism school.
